House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) elevated his fight against a shadowy corporate syndicate he alleges is colluding to “boycott, demonetize, and censor disfavored viewpoints,” including Breitbart News.
His committee has invited executives from GroupM and Unilever to publicly testify regarding their companies’ potential collusion in violation of antitrust law to silence conservative voices.
In letters obtained by Breitbart News, Jordan says his committee has obtained documents showing both companies, as members of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media’s (GARM) Steer Team, are “closely involved in GARM’s efforts to boycott, demonetize, and censor disfavored viewpoints.”
Unilever Witness Invite by Breitbart News on Scribd
The Judiciary Committee sent letters in March to chief executive officers of five member companies of the GARM Steer Team, including GroupM and Unilever, requesting documents and communications pertinent to its alleged conservative censorship.
As Breitbart News reported:
GARM is an initiative of the powerful World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), which, according to its website, “represents over 150 of the world’s biggest brands and more than 60 national advertiser associations worldwide.” GARM was established in 2019 in Cannes, France – home of the film festival frequented by ultra-liberal Hollywood jet set elites – “to address the challenge of harmful content on digital media platforms and its monetization via advertising.”
In his March letter, Jordan said GARM members, led by Steer Team members, are colluding to demonetize conservative platforms and voices — singling out Breitbart News, Fox News, and the Daily Wire among those impacted.
He wrote, “This coordination does not always revolve around ‘brand safety’ and ‘harmful’ content as GARM publicly claims, but instead the desire to censor conservative and other views that GARM members disfavor.”
Jordan described in that letter how GARM’s potentially illegal efforts work:
Under the Sherman Act, these types of agreements may be illegal, and they require considering the adequacy of current law. The actions are concerning and warrant oversight because the harm that GARM causes to consumers is severe. For example, content creators lose revenue as “advertising investment is steered away from” content that GARM disfavors. Less content is then available as platforms remove disfavored material, and as creators and publishers lose income.
A committee spokesman told Breitbart News at the time that “everything is on the table as to what happens next” if the companies refuse to comply, which could include subpoenas and congressional hearings.
The committee has asked executives from the two companies to sit for a hearing titled “Collusion in the Global Alliance for Responsible Media” on July 10, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. in room 2141 of the Rayburn House Office Building.
It specifically invited Unilever President Herrish Patel or CEO Hein Schumacher and GroupM CEO Christian Juhl to attend. GroupM touts itself as the world’s leading media investment company, and Unilever is one of the world’s largest consumer goods companies.
The Judiciary Committee initially elevated its long investigation of this matter in March 2023 when it requested information from GARM and WFA. It subpoenaed both organizations in May 2023 after they failed to produce any documents.
Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.
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